As if there couldn’t be any more bad news to report, sources now say Legendary coach Joe Paterno and Pennsylvania State University officials argued repeatedly over how to discipline football players.
Vicky Triponey, the university's former chief disciplinarian, told the Wall Street Journal that she attended countless meetings and discussions about cases involving football players, where Paterno demanded players be treated more favorably than other students who broke university rules.
In 2005, Triponey sent an email to former University President Graham Spanier detailing her concerns about the way Paterno was handling the school’s football program. In the email, obtained by the journal, Triponey said Paterno felt she had no business holding players responsible for breaking the school’s rules and that he knew best how to discipline his players.
A spokesman for Paterno’s lawyer denies those claims.
Two years after Triponey sent the email to Spanier, the university adopted Paterno’s alleged believes. Under new rules, the judicial-review process was given a limited ability to end a student's participation in activities--including football.
The decision came one month after Triponey resigned from the school. She allegedly left her post following a confrontation regarding the way her office was handling a case involving six football players, who were charged for forcing their way into a campus apartment and beating up several students.
In a meeting, Triponey reportedly asked Paterno to encourage the players to tell the truth about the incident. A source tells the Wall Street Journal that Paterno angrily responded that his players couldn't be expected to cooperate because they would have to testify against each other, making it hard to play football together.
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Just days before her resignation in September 2007, Triponey told the paper Spanier came to her home and threatened her job after coach Paterno said he would stop fund-raising for the school, if Triponey wouldn’t allow one of his players—who was accused of making harassing phone calls to a retired assistant coach—to practice. That player’s suspension was lessened and he was allowed to return to football.
Triponey’s claims come just weeks after sexual abuse allegations--involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky--rocked the school’s almost perfect reputation and eventually cost Paterno and Spanier their jobs.
The Penn State Board of Trustees announced at a news conference in Philadelphia on Monday that it hired former FBI director Louis Freeh to lead the investigation into the school's handling of the allegations.
